The difference between wifi 2.4 and 5. Review of modern wireless technologies. Which channel should I choose? - yes, any of the four available
As you know, wireless Wi-Fi access points (routers) operate either at a frequency of 2.4 GHz or at a frequency of 5 GHz. Moreover, the latter - routers operating at a frequency of 5 GHz - are a fairly recent innovation.
Pros and cons of routers operating at 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz
- Routers operating at a frequency of 2.4 GHz are cheaper than their brothers with a higher operating frequency.
- Thanks to shorter waves, routers operating at 5 GHz can transmit data at higher speeds.
- A router on the 2.4 GHz frequency is more susceptible to interference, since many electronic devices use the same frequency. There are slightly fewer similar devices at 5 GHz. Find out how you can.
- The 5 GHz frequency provides a much larger number of communication channels than the 2.4 GHz frequency.
- The 5 GHz frequency is more susceptible to small obstacles that can cause serious interference. Ideally, the 5 GHz frequency requires line of sight to the device. Find out to reduce interference and losses.
- Many smartphones and other mobile devices will not see a router that operates at 5 GHz.
- Thanks to the ubiquity of Wi-Fi routers operating at a frequency of 2.4 GHz, most Wi-Fi points located near your access point operate at a frequency of 2.4, which naturally interferes with each other. Therefore, a 5 GHz router is unlikely to have interference from your neighbors' access points.
- The 5 GHz router frequency is better suited for transmitting signals over long distances.
The choice of one or another operating frequency of the router depends on your requirements and the conditions for the future operation of the router. But if you can’t decide, you can buy a Wi-Fi router that supports both frequencies. In this case, you can actually check and choose the one you need. And if necessary, change the operating frequency. Fortunately, this is done in two clicks.
I have already written several articles in which I talked about choosing routers for different tasks and from different price categories. As I write this article, I will provide links to them. I also decided to write a relevant article and talk about choosing a router that supports the new 802.11ac standard. They are also dual-band routers that can operate simultaneously on two frequencies. Including at the new 5 GHz frequency. Many people are looking for the cheapest models of routers that support the 5 GHz network and the ac standard.
It is these budget routers that I will try to talk about in this article. Let's look at the most affordable routers that support the new standard, one model from each manufacturer. I think it will be fair. In any case, we will have a list of the cheapest router models that support the wireless network standard we need.
First, let's find out what 802.11ac and 5 GHz Wi-Fi are. If you're not in the know yet.
Router supporting ac standard and Wi-Fi 5 GHz. What is it and what are the advantages?
These are ordinary routers, with support for the new, modern 802.11ac standard. They began to appear on the market relatively recently, and are already actively selling. Their prices were immediately very high, but as more and more models began to appear, competition appeared, and prices, of course, fell.
Now to the main thing. I already wrote, . This is a new, modern Wi-Fi standard. It only works at 5 GHz. Therefore, all routers that support the ac standard support the 5 GHz frequency. This is actually why they are dual-band. Since two Wi-Fi networks can be distributed simultaneously, at different frequencies: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.
You may ask, why do I need the old 2.4 GHz frequency? The fact is that not all devices (laptops, smartphones, tablets, Wi-Fi adapters, etc.) can operate at 5 GHz and support the 802.11ac standard. Devices (Wi-Fi network clients), which do not support the new standard, will connect to the network at a frequency of 2.4 GHz and operate in 802.11n (or lower) mode. I wrote about this in the article: .
If we talk about the advantages of the new ac standard, then this is primarily the speed of the wireless Wi-Fi network. It is higher than the previous 802.11n standard. Speeds from 430 Mbps to an impressive 6.77 Gbps. Nowadays, when you need more bandwidth to watch videos in high quality (especially on TVs), online games, downloading large files, etc., the new Wi-Fi network standard is like a breath of fresh air. Since the 802.11n standard is already a little outdated, and its technical capabilities are not always enough.
Another plus is that the 5 GHz Wi-Fi frequency is less congested. And this is the absence of all kinds of interference. And the absence of interference means more speed and stability. True, according to my observations, the signal level of a Wi-Fi network from one router at a frequency of 5 GHz is slightly lower than at a frequency of 2.4 GHz. And there are also rumors that the new frequency does not penetrate walls well. But this most likely depends on the specific router model.
Well, the fact that this is a new wireless network standard is, of course, a plus. Since in the near future you will simply have to choose a router that supports the new standard. In an article from, I advised in 2017 not to buy routers that do not support the ac standard.
Cheapest routers with 802.11ac (5 GHz Wi-Fi)
We will consider only the most affordable, budget router options, but which must have support for IEEE 802.11ac. Well, accordingly, they will be dual-band. Low price and the availability of a new Wi-Fi network standard are the main conditions.
In principle, you can do this without my advice. Just in some popular online store, set a filter by “IEEE 802.11ac” and sort by price “from cheap to expensive.” But I am already familiar with many router models, which I will write about below, and I have something to say about each of them. Polyus will provide links to pages with their reviews, feedback and setup instructions. If there are any on our website.
An important point: in different countries, and in different stores, the prices and variety of goods, of course, differ. So please do not judge strictly if in your case some router turns out to be cheaper or more expensive. Or I won’t write about some model. You can always share your opinion and advice in the comments.
The list is just for reference. And so that you understand what you can focus on when choosing a router with ac.
Xiaomi Mini Wifi
And, oddly enough, the most affordable router is from the Chinese company Xiaomi. Xiaomi Mi WiFi model. In addition, this router has a USB port. Although, try to figure out how to use it for different tasks. All through some kind of application. A very stupid decision.
The router is good, but of course I won’t buy it :) Although no, I’m kidding, I already have it. I bought it not for personal use, but to see what kind of device it was. With such characteristics and at such a good price. Well, in order to write a couple of instructions for the site.
The router is interesting, beautiful, seems to work without problems (no experience with long-term use). But the control panel in Chinese is a little annoying. You can install it, or install some firmware from Padavan, or PandoraBox. But these are unnecessary problems that not everyone will want to deal with.
If you need a simple and understandable router that is easy to set up and understand different functions, and you are not a fan of installing different firmware and other things, then I do not recommend routers from Xiaomi.
If you decide to buy this option, you will most likely find it useful.
There is also a model from this manufacturer, Xiaomi WiFi MiRouter 3. But it will be a little more expensive.
The router is generally good (especially for your money), and anyone can configure it. But you will need to understand the settings. The models are popular and there are many reviews.
TP-Link Archer C20i and TP-Link Archer C20
These are almost identical routers, only in different cases. I'm familiar with both models. I have TP-Link Archer C20i at the moment. These are the most affordable routers from TP-Link that support the ac standard.
Both routers have a USB port. Good signal quality at 5 GHz. Even the TP-Link Archer C20i, despite the fact that it has internal antennas. I will not talk in detail about these routers, since I have already done detailed reviews.
If you stop at these options, it will come in handy. And I wrote the same way.
Let me remind you that these are the cheapest options. TP-Link has a lot of routers that support the new wireless network standard. Closer to the budget ones, there are also TP-LINK Archer C50 and TP-LINK Archer C25 models.
Netis WF2710
Another budget option for a modern router from Netis. I am not specifically familiar with the Netis WF2710 model. But I used routers from this manufacturer. I reviewed even cheaper options. True, they do not support ac.
I read the reviews, some are not very good. But this is probably normal, it happens with any router. Well, there is no USB port.
Judging by other models from Netis, I can say that the routers have a simple and understandable control panel in Russian. So there shouldn't be any problems with the setup.
Tenda AC6
Another option for an inexpensive, modern router. In terms of price, it will be slightly more expensive than models from TP-Link. And significantly more expensive for Xiaomi Mini Wifi. As far as I understand, the model is new, there are few reviews. It looks like this:
Of course there is support for the 802.11ac standard. Wireless network speed up to 867 Mbps.
I’m also not familiar with this router, so I can’t say anything specific about it. See information on the Internet, read reviews from owners. This is just another available router model that fits our needs.
Inexpensive ASUS routers with ac support
ASUS's cheapest models will cost more than the options we discussed above. The most affordable are the Asus RT-AC750 and Asus RT-AC51U models. The RT-AC51U model is especially popular.
In the near future I will try to test these models and tell you more about them.
RT-AC750 and RT-AC51U are very good options for a budget router with support for the 5GHz frequency. Pleased with the presence of USB ports and support for 3G modems.
Other models
- D-Link has interesting models: D-Link DIR-825/AC, D-Link DIR-806A.
- The manufacturer Totolink has a good model Totolink A1004.
- And Zyxel, as far as I understand, has the cheapest model (I have input with 802.11ac support) Keenetic Giga III. And it's not very cheap. You can view.
Let me remind you that we considered the most affordable options.
If your main goal is to save money when buying a router, and you are ready to give up new technology, then see my article with tips on choosing the cheapest router:
I hope my little tips will help you in choosing a router, and the transition to the new 802.11ac communication standard and the 5 GHz frequency will bring you only pleasure.
You can always share your experience and add useful information to the article in the comments. You can also leave your questions there.
There are more and more gadgets with Wi-Fi. Are 2.4 GHz networks already working poorly due to the large number of devices? Have you noticed this too? Even when using channels 1, 5, 9 and 13, is it impossible to obtain acceptable capacity and overall network performance? Well, there is good news. The 5 GHz band is almost completely free now. And besides, there are much more channels available for placing access points. As many as 19 to fit 20 MHz wide with minimal overlap. Almost any Apple device can use 5 GHz with the 802.11A/N standard. In addition, it is in this range that they prefer to work if they have the opportunity to choose. The latest Wi-Fi standard 802.11AC can use channel widths of 20/40/80 MHz. New MacBooks prefer to run at 80 MHz channel width if possible. The 2.4 GHz band dried up in 2017 and the new Wi-Fi standard does not support it. Well, now there is a reason to promote the director to new access points with support for 802.11A/N/AC (just kidding). 802.11AC began appearing in Apple devices in 2013, and now all products are equipped with it. Soon other vendors will follow the company from Cupertino.
Let's conduct a study of the compatibility of Wi-Fi devices with frequencies of 5 GHz. When using an iPhone 5s with MikroTik hAP AC lite, I noticed that it would not connect to the network when changing the frequency on the access point. At first I decided that this was not the right regionality, so I decided to write an appropriate article. Router OS version 6.38.5
Let's go to the interfaces tab in MikroTik and open wlan2. Let's choose the Belarus region.
I’ll show you a screenshot from MikroTik of choosing a frequency for our region. It's huge:
Connectivity with all frequency options was tested on the table. Ranges 5180-5320, 5500-5700 are approved for use in our country. 19 non-overlapping channels with a width of 20 MHz (width) are highlighted in bold . For the unaited state 2 region, it’s a secret to say that the range of 5705-5825 MHz is additionally offered. Apple iPhone 5s turned out to be able to work in it without changing the region (Belarus). Apparently there is enough frequency for everyone :-)
Let's set the channel width to 20/40 MHz Ce and continue the study. It turned out to be interesting that the smartphone was able to connect to the network only in the range 5180-5320, 5500-5580. What is this software bug? Or are wide channels prohibited in our region in the ranges 5600-5700, 5705-5825? In any case, this must be kept in mind. It turns out we have only 6 and not 9 non-overlapping channels with a width of 40 MHz. We want all devices to be able to work with a 5 GHz network, right?
Let's set the channel width to 20/40/80 MHz Ce. Now we were able to connect only when the access point frequency was set to 5180, 5260, 5500. In total, there are only 3 non-overlapping channels in which you can get maximum compatibility with the iPhone 5s tuned to the Belarusian region.
When using a frequency of 5260-5580 MHz, please note that the Wi-Fi access point does not turn on immediately, but with a delay of 60 seconds. For 5600-5640 the delay is apparently even greater.
Judging by the inscription and remembering the history of the development of Router OS, we can assume that there is a search for radar signals and if they are detected, the access point will not turn on. There is no such thing in the range 5705-5825.
Let me remind you that channels 12 and 13, which we allow for the 2.4 GHz range, cannot be used by some devices brought from other regions. The opposite situation is also possible: a device certified for our region may not connect to a range that is not permitted in our region. MacBook Air with the Belarusian region could not see the network in the range 5600-5640*, therefore, in order to ensure maximum compatibility with client devices, I advise you not to use these frequencies . You should also limit the use of 20/40 and 20/40/80 MHz channels to only 5120-5300, 5500-5580 MHz. This will allow all devices developed and certified for our region to connect (after all, they are the majority).
* - MacBooks, unlike iPhones, use the region code using the outdated 802.11d protocol and compatibility with Wi-Fi networks may be different.
And for those who want their laptop to work even with networks that are incorrectly configured, we recommend that you select support for the entire frequency range in the network adapter settings. In the Network and Sharing Center, you can configure the Wi-Fi module:
According to Belarusian legislation, the use of client devices that can operate in ranges not permitted in our country is not prohibited. But access points cannot be operated on the wrong frequencies.
p.s. What is the performance of 802.11AC? I have seen with my own eyes the throughput between the client and the access point up to 160 Mbps with a channel width of 80 MHz using the MIMO 1x1 scheme over the SMB protocol. The 802.11AC standard limits not only frequencies and channel widths for certain regions, but also various types of technologies. In most CIS countries, beamforming technology that affects performance is prohibited.
Training: How to set up MikroTik from scratch?
Learn to work with MikroTik and RouterOS equipment using the video course "". Complete the lessons at your own pace and when it’s convenient - all materials remain with you indefinitely. The course includes 162 video lessons, 45 laboratory works, self-test questions and notes. After completing the course, you will be able to set up a MikroTik router from scratch, even if you don't have any actual hardware. You can watch the beginning of the course for free by leaving a request.
Read 27780 once Last modified Monday, 11 March 2019 22:47
One of the main reasons why Wi-Fi is the most common wireless communication standard today is because it is fast, reliable, and very easy to use.
When the first commercial Wi-Fi devices began appearing in the late 1990s, most users could choose between two main versions of the IEEE 802.11 protocol: a and b. Since the second one was more affordable from a price point of view, it gradually became a mass standard. And since it uses the 2.4 GHz frequency range to transmit information, a significant part of Wi-Fi devices today rely on it.
In the early days of the mobile revolution, this was not a big problem, since most homes rarely had more than one or two Wi-Fi devices. However, over the past decade the situation has changed dramatically. Today our houses and apartments are “densely populated” with laptops, tablets, mobile phones, digital cameras, and a significant part of them rely on the good old 2.4 GHz band. Moreover, a number of household electrical appliances, such as microwave ovens, and many peripheral devices, such as wireless mice and keyboards, also use this frequency range. The next most common wireless consumer standard, Bluetooth, also relies on it.
The more devices use the same frequency to communicate at the same time, the more they interfere with each other. The reason for this phenomenon is called “interference”, which degrades the signal quality and leads to connection problems and reduced transmission speed.
In an attempt to solve this problem, the Wi-Fi Alliance (a commercial organization that tests and certifies equipment according to the 802.11 series of standards) has introduced a new frequency range - 5 GHz. It first became part of the n-version of the protocol, but was introduced as an option. In other words, an 802.11n certified device can either operate only in the 2.4 GHz band, or it can be dual-band, i.e. support both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.
However, with the latest version of the standard, ac, all certified devices must only support the new frequency band, meaning any wireless product bearing the 802.11ac designation must use the 5 GHz operating band.
Why You Should Start Using 5GHz Wi-Fi
Since it has only recently been available (the 802.11n revision was officially introduced in 2009), the 5-GHz band is still relatively little used. This means that even in a home or office “overpopulated” with wireless devices, using the 5 GHz band guarantees a minimum of interference and maximum quality (speed plus stability) of a Wi-Fi connection.
Of course, both devices being connected must support such communication. In other words, both the wireless router used to broadcast the Wi-Fi signal and the Wi-Fi module of the device must support the appropriate version of the 802.11 standard, which provides communication at the 5 GHz frequency.
How do you know if a device supports 5 GHz?
To do this, it is usually enough to read the router's instruction manual or check the model specifications on the manufacturer's official website. Additionally, if a router offers 5GHz support, it will be clearly stated on its packaging or case - this feature is new and very important, so the manufacturer is unlikely to be too lazy to mention it.
Alternatively, you can open the router settings panel and check the supported frequencies there. This is usually done by entering a specific address into the browser. To enter the settings panel, you also need to know your login name and password. As a rule, all manufacturers use the combination of admin and admin, or admin and password, as the default login and password.
Here is a short list of standard combinations used to enter the control panel of Wi-Fi routers from popular manufacturers:
Address: http://192.168.1.1, login: admin, password: Admin
Address: http://192.168.0.1, login: admin, password: admin
Address EU: http://192.168.1.1, login: admin, password: Admin
Address: http://192.168.0.1, login: admin, password: password
But even if the 5GHz band is supported by your router, to take advantage of its benefits, your device's wireless module must also support it.
Again, you can find this out by checking the technical data sheet in the official documentation or on your device's web page, and if you have a Windows laptop or tablet, simply open Control Panel, then Device Manager, expand the section “Network adapters”, find the wireless adapter in it and go to its properties. On the "Advanced" tab you will find the information you are interested in.
As you can see in the image above, in our particular example, the Asus GL552J laptop has an Intel Dual Band Wireless-N adapter that supports and works with two Wi-Fi frequencies: 2.4 and 5 GHz.
Features of using the 5 GHz band
To take full advantage of the 5GHz bandwidth, it's important to have what's called a "dual-band" router. Devices of this class usually use the n-version of the 802.11 protocol, and most importantly, offer the ability to simultaneously transmit signals both in the widely used and widely used 2.4 GHz band and in the new 5 GHz band. That is, they provide backward compatibility with older Wi-Fi devices. If your router only supports 5GHz, then any 2.4GHz compatible device simply won't be able to work with it.
But what to do when the router supports 5 GHz, but the laptop/tablet does not? In such cases, you can purchase an additional Wi-Fi adapter. Fortunately, such devices are not very expensive, and most of them are extremely compact. The only inconvenience associated with using such an adapter is that it will take up one of the USB ports on your computer.
Have a great day!
Wi-Fi - how much there is in this sound... I think everyone knows that Wi-Fi is a wireless local network. And it would seem that there can be something complicated in Wi-Fi, everything is simple, but it wasn’t enough, for example, to read the specification of the router. What is not written there - IEEE802.11n, IEEE802.11b, IEEE802.11g,Frequency range 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz. To understand this, you need to have two higher educations in the field of IT. But in reality, everything is not as complicated as it seems; in this article I will try to explain what the numbers and numbers that accompany Wi-Fi devices mean.
So let's start with IEEE standards (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is an international non-profit association of specialists in the field of technology, a world leader in the development of standards for radio electronics and electrical engineering. The main goal of IEEE is standardization in the field of IT. So, in order to distinguish between standards, after the abbreviation IEEE, numbers are written that correspond to a specific group of standards, for example:
- Ethernet is a standard of the IEEE 802.3 group
- WiFi is a standard of the IEEE 802.11 group
- WiMAx is a standard of the IEEE 802.16 group
| IEEE standard |
Name of technology in English | Frequency range of networks, GHz | Year of Ratification by the WiFi Alliance | Theoretical throughput, Mbit/s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 802.11b | Wireless b | 2,4 | 1999 | 11 |
| 802.11a | Wireless a | 5 | 2001 | 54 |
| 802.11g | Wireless g | 2,4 | 2003 | 54 |
| Super G | 2,4 | 2005 | 108 | |
| 802.11n | Wireless N, 150Mbps | 2,4 | - | 150 |
| Wireless N Speed | 2,4 | - | 270 | |
| Wireless N, 300Mbps | 2,4 | 2006 | 300 | |
| Wireless Dual Band N | 2,4 and 5 | 2009 | 300 | |
| Wireless N, 450Mbps | 2.4/ 2.4 and 5 | - | 450 | |
| 802.11ac | Wireless ac | 5 | - | 1300 |
From this table it can be seen that with each new standard, the speed of the Wi-Fi network is steadily increasing. If you see IEEE 802.11 b/g/n on any device (router, laptop, etc.), this means that the device supports three standards: 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n (at the time of writing this is the most popular combinations, since the 802.11a standard is outdated and uses the 5 GHz frequency band, and 802.11ac has not yet gained much popularity).
It's time to understand the frequency ranges in which Wi-Fi networks operate, there are two of them - 2.4 GHz (more precisely, the frequency band 2400 MHz-2483.5 MHz) and 5 GHz (more precisely, the range 5.180-5.240 GHz and 5.745-5.825 GHz).
Most devices operate at 2.4 GHz, which means using the 2400 MHz-2483.5 MHz band with a step frequency of 5 MHz. these stripes form channels, for Russia there are 13 of them
Channel Low frequency Center frequency High frequency
1
2.401 2.412
2.423
2
2.406 2.417
2.428
3
2.411 2.422
2.433
4
2.416 2.427
2.438
5
2.421 2.432
2.443
6
2.426 2.437
2.448
7
2.431 2.442
2.453
8
2.436 2.447
2.458
9
2.441 2.452
2.463
10
2.446 2.457
2.468
11
2.451 2.462
2.473
12
2.456 2.467
2.478
13
2.461 2.472
2.483
Frequency channels in the 5GHz spectral band:
| Channel | Frequency, GHz | Channel | Frequency, GHz | Channel | Frequency, GHz | Channel | Frequency, GHz | |||||||
| 34 | 5,17 | 62 | 5,31 | 149 | 5,745 | 177 | 5,885 | |||||||
| 36 | 5,18 | 64 | 5,32 | 15 | 5,755 | 180 | 5,905 | |||||||
| 38 | 5,19 | 100 | 5,5 | 152 | 5,76 | |||||||||
| 40 | 5,2 | 104 | 5,52 | 153 | 5,765 | |||||||||
| 42 | 5,21 | 108 | 5,54 | 155 | 5,775 | |||||||||
| 44 | 5,22 | 112 | 5,56 | 157 | 5,785 | |||||||||
| 46 | 5,23 | 116 | 5,58 | 159 | 5,795 | |||||||||
| 48 | 5,24 | 120 | 5,6 | 160 | 5,8 | |||||||||
| 50 | 5,25 | 124 | 5,62 | 161 | 5,805 | |||||||||
| 52 | 5,26 | 128 | 5,64 | 163 | 5,815 | |||||||||
| 54 | 5,27 | 132 | 5,66 | 165 | 5,825 | |||||||||
| 56 | 5,28 | 136 | 5,68 | 167 | 5,835 | |||||||||
| 58 | 5,29 | 140 | 5,7 | 171 | 5,855 | |||||||||
| 60 | 5,3 | 147 | 5,735 | 173 | 5,865 | |||||||||
Accordingly, in the Russian Federation we have the following non-overlapping channels with a width of 20 MHz indoors:
1. 5150-5250 MHz
36: 5180 MHz
40: 5200 MHz
44: 5220 MHz
48: 5240 MHz (this channel is effective if the next band is used)
2. 5250-5350 MHz(check the possibility of using this band)
52: 5260 MHz
56: 5280 MHz
60: 5300 MHz
64: 5320 MHz
Due to less frequent use and larger numbers of Wi-Fi point channels, Wi-Fi speed increases. But to use 5GHz, it is necessary that not only the Wi-Fi source (router) operate at this frequency, but also the device itself (laptop, tablet, phone, TV). The disadvantage of using 5 GHz is the high cost of equipment compared to devices operating at a frequency of 2.4 GHz and the shorter range compared to the frequency of 2.4 GHz.
